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Flowers And Music For Juárez
Music and flowers, Juarez, 2012 –
©Bruce Berman
Commentary by Bruce Berman
There are many reasons for music and flowers in Juarez. Marriage, love, marking passages of accomplishment and age and transition. And death. Recently there has been little music and lots of flowers have been offered for goodbyes to loved ones, lost in the war. There are a lot of crossed fingers these days, lots of hope for better times, for the good. It’s been a long “winter” and it won’t go away right away. But there is still a Juarez in Juarez and the one we love is not gone. It had color and style and verve. It will again. There was the sweet smell of gardenias in the night air and thoughts of new possibilities and the violins played music of happiness in the skillful hands of roving mariachi. The Pop sounds of a new generation had begun to fill stadiums, singers emerged from as far away as DF and from within. Juarez was about style and boldness and defiance, a unique culture built over the past century, forged from a revolution and tempered by the shadow of a bossy and boasting neighbor. J town, Chihuahua. Strong, bold and pretty.
It’ll take a lot. A lot has happened.
It will be back. It is coming back (Estará de vuelta. Que se está recuperando).
It is, isn’t it? We hope.
Que Miras Musico: Change
Musicos, El Paso – April 2009
Wary eyes.
Everyone’s wary, in El Paso/Juarez, these days. The border is at war, with itself, with it’s two yin/yang sides, with the Interiors of each of the two sides.
Everyone’s wondering where it’ll end, where they will fall on the have and have not scale, what’ll be left of this little rough Shangri La (not a Shangri La of paradise but a refuge for those who have fallen from paradise. Sort of a suburb of Shangri La).
Ciego Musico/Blind Music
Calle Juarez, Ciego musico/Blind Music, Juarez – 1982
Juarez
This man played in the streets of Juarez for all my first years in La Frontera. He was blind. He was small. He made music like a special desert bird, joyful to bathe in just a drop of water, joyful to sing, even to the passing and witless American tourists.
Juarez: Music and bullets in the air
Juarez harps(?), May 2008
There hasn’t been so much gunfire in Juarez since 1910. Since Jan.1, there have been over 230 drug war-related murders.
There was a time in Juarez -bourgeoise and ugly Americano, for sure, but what the hell- that it was just the old fashioned sins: getting drunk, dancing, straggling around with whatever “date,” that’d allow you to put your hands on her ( or whatever) and, if you survived, you crawled home over the bridge to El Paso and woke up late the next day.
Musico del Centro
Paricio Valazquez, musician for 49 years, El Paso, October 2007
Paricio Valasquez has played his guitar in the cantinas of downtown El Paso for more than 49 years. He is fully wired.
Lost Musician In Juarez
Musico perdido en las ruinas de Juarez / July 2007
El Centro, the downtown of Juarez, is going down.
La Mariscal, the zone of shops and bars and (say this quietly) brothels north of El Centro, the commercial zone north of El Centro stretching to the border with the U.S., is being demolished and is, mostly, gone.
The “Plan,” has come. Progress is here. Now there is hope for those who need the border to be “clean.”
It shall be sanitized.
CALLIN” ME
For almost twenty years photography has been my voice and the border has never stopped callin’ me.
Photography moves me still, but in conversation, more and more I’ve talkedf about my teaching job at New Mexico State University, as “passing the torch.”
I’m not sure, but maybe it’s been passed (and will continue to be).
I’ve been fretting fora few years about “what’s next?”
Right now, all I know is, if you aren’t feeling as good as these kids (on this video) or even something a little like it, it’s time to stop fretting and get the “next” going.
And I shall.
Two things are calling me and calling me hard these days and nights: Music (guitar… which doesn’t let me go to bed early or even late) and Africa ()which just won’t get out of my head).
Stay tuned, when Im know more I’ll let you know.
The Plaza of Stooges
El Paso’s Central Plaza, is officially named San Jacinto Plaza. It is located in the middle of El Paso’s original business district and about 3/4 of a mile from the border with Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. In recent times its unofficially been called Plaza de los Lagartos which refers to the old pool in the middle of the plaza that used to be the home of alligators (lagartos in español) which no longer existed after the early 1970s. The alligators were later commemorated, in 2006, by a fiberglass sculpture of alligators by native son and internationally renowned artist, Luis Jimenez.
Lou Reed: R.I.P. On The Wild Side
LOU LOU LOU
The News floored me.
It’s like New York vanished.
Guilliani couldn’t scrub it.
Bloomberg couldn’t.
It’s your city Lou.
You were the grit and the soul man.
So now it’s time to fly away.
“How do you Speak to an Angel” you wrote and asked:
You just say – Hello, hello, hello Baby
Check it out. See you there. Say hi to Andy.
Miss you. The thought of you.
You were always a kick in my pants.
Walk on the wild side.
No doubt.
The great beyond.
Somewheresville.
See you there.
Read more on Lou: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/lou-reed-through-the-years-20120302/lou-reeds-new-york-0842024#ixzz2izX3o2uER.I.P.
Juarez March Against Violence For Professor Manuel Arroyo
The March against violence in memory of Professor Manuel Arroyo, Juarez, June 3, 2009
Juarez, Chihuahua/Mexico
June 3, 2009
The Megabandera (giant flag) in the Chamizal Park in Juarez is usually the place for joy and pleasure, a meeting place for families, lovers and tourists.
That was before la catástrofe.
The catastrophe.
Before the Cartel War.
Juarez: Still Not The USA (Gracias a Dios)!
fotografo-centro Juarez-Retrato: $ 4.50(US)
Musicos de Juarez-March 23, 2007
Musico de Juarez-March 23, 2007
New Day Viene: Fresh Paint and New Ambitions
Day 2 / Christmas Eve eve
Day 44 / Finished
by Nathan Zarate
photograph by Jaime Ojo
Artist Francisco Delgado, his brother Oswaldo, his friend, artist Mauricio Olaque and a large helping hand from Bowie High School students and neighborhood residents began the Sagrado Corazon Mural on the night of Christmas Eve eve, 2006.
The mural, with support from Sagrado Corazon, local businessmen, concerned residents and ex-residents of the Segundo Barrio,